A major challenge in developing pharmaceutical therapies for diseases such as cancer is to minimize toxicity while maximizing efficacy. Therapies which target the specific biochemical pathways involved in tumor growth and progression offer the potential to provide improved therapeutic efficacy while minimizing side effects.
While targeted therapies, such as those which modulate the biochemical pathways involved in tumor growth and progression, offer great promise for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, many patients become refractory to continued treatment as compensatory pathways become active. In principle, a combination of targeted therapies, which selectively inhibit multiple receptors and their signaling pathways, can be administered to minimize the potential of acquired resistance. By providing a combination of therapies, either simultaneously or in sequence, multiple receptors in a signaling pathway, multiple pathways within the cancer cells, or multiple tissue-level responses can be targeted.
While combination therapies offer tremendous potential, extensive in vitro studies are typically required to identify specific combination therapies which offer improved efficacy. Platforms which can facilitate the in vitro screening of active agents would greatly enhance efforts to develop improved therapeutic regimes.